‘Oh horror! Oh disgrace! Unpatriotic! Prison for life!’ Was the common cry. And oh how I laughed and laughed and laughed.
Very naughty! Most unpatriotic! But then I’ve always had a challenge with that kind of stuff. What do you expect from a wandering-half- Jew like me. In any case I’m also only half Danish and I don’t even know which half is what? 
Actually this was the first attempt on The Little Mermaid’s life in a long series.-
She’s had her arm sawn off but returned.
In 1998 she lost her head again which was found and replaced. –Wish I could do that!
She’s had her hair painted red and a bra painted on.
The entire statue was blasted of the rock with dynamite.
She’s been draped in a Burka in opposition to Turkey joining the European Union.
She’s been painted green and pink.
And in 2007 some fashionista’s decided to clothe her in a Muslim dress with head scarf and all.
In any case, the statue that everyone comes to stare at is not even the original ( hidden away, somewhere safe) so what’s the big fuss about?
I noticed they’ve also removed most of the old news and tobacco kiosques that used to adorn many of Copenhagen’s squares. So stylish with their green copper roofs.
One thing that will never disappear are the ubiquitous Polsemaend. Sausage men. They are simply part of the scenery. Small white wagons where you can stand and eat a range of sausages with a delightful choice of condiments. Yum! If you have the inclination to visit Denmark, never ,ever, ever leave the place ,without having tasted the quintessential Danish polse.
Since this is February a mention of snow is not out of place. We’ve had rather a lot of the stuff lately in the UK. Before I left we had so much, in Scotland, that I had difficulty getting out of where I live onto the road.
This is it, you see. When the postman knocked on the door the other day, he looked at me in amazement. ‘ You’ve shovelled the snow’, he said. I explained that I am half Danish and that Danes have, what may seem like a peculiar habit, when it snows, they get their shovels out and shovel! Amazingly obvious! Well not to the Brits it seems. As I live in the middle of a field, I have a long way to drive to get onto the road itself. Of course no one bothers to clear the track ( far too long to shovel by hand) and so we struggle.
There was much less snow when I arrived in Denmark but it did snow while I was there. And, right enough. Eight o’clock in the morning folk where out there shovelling away to their heart content. Of course not only are the roads kept clear but they have special small machines to deal with the pavements too.
I took a walk down Stroget, the main pedestrian street in Copenhagen. Not worth the bother, in my un humble opinion. If you want to enjoy the real thing. Just almost any side street will do, and you will find lots of tiny shops with anything from vintage to designer clothes, stamps and so on. Many of these are down a few steps in the cellar. Reminds me a little of Amsterdam. Happy to say too that that I did not encounter too many chain stores of UK/US variety.
Food wise I couldn’t possibly revisit Denmark without eating some Smorrebrod, directly translated it means buttered bread. What we call an open sandwich. The Danes really go to town here. But because I was staying with a friend way down south of the big city, we decided it would take us longer to get into central Copenhagen by public transport, than to actually enjoy our food. So we decided instead to visit the nearby town of Koge .
A lovely old town with plenty of character and colourful wooden framed houses.
There, in the middle of an ochre coloured square we found a restaurant which not only had a smorrebrod ‘table’ but you could eat as much as you pleased for 107 Danish crowns – an amazing £…13! I have experienced some great places in the US which do exactly this but never in Copenhagen where most things are famously expensive.
I have to say that the food was absolutely excellent, with all the staples available. Three different kinds of marinated herring. Danish liver pate with sweet-pickled cucumber and beetroot .Roast beef with Remoulade , (a kind of mayonnaise with pickles) ,including the national dish –fleaskesteg - roast pork, as well as that other typical Danish dish –tenderloin of pork with masses of onion and caramelised potatoes. Amazing! I even had a snaps, with dill.
It was Saturday and the place was full of Danes enjoying themselves after the shopping. On a Saturdays as if by magic, all shops close at 1pm,especially in the province.
My visit was an all too short one and I would have loved to meet some folk involved in the environment. I didn’t manage it this time.
I have to say .
that I’m not aware of any groups Although obviously there’s lots of preparation going on for the big Climate Change gathering in December..
If anyone one readings this know any better I would be delighted to hear from you.
I did pick up an article in a local paper with the headline: Gloomy outlook for Climate Change. It appears that Denmark will find it hard to fulfil its Climate obligation for the period 2008-2012. There was an understanding from the government that there should be 350 megawatt of wind power but so far there’s only 222 megawatt. There has also been delays with the installation of off shore wind parks and a lack of input in energy savings.
Conclusion. Denmark is short of a total of 35 million tons of co2 reduction….So maybe not quite the ‘ green haven’ folk speak of but still in many green ways streets ahead of the UK.
Love the old place more now, especially in May.
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